Thursday, 20 October 2011

Today, as the leaves fall from the trees and the cold autumn rain makes me shiver, all I want to do is curl up with a cup of tea and a great vamp novel. If this sounds like your idea of heaven, you could be in luck, because today Catherine Stovall has offered to give away an ebook copy of her debut novel, Stolen (Requiem of Humanity). To be in with a chance to win, all you need to do is leave a comment below.

~Jenda and Soborgne are best friends and everything they do, they do together. Unfortunately, this time the girls may die together. The girls are kidnapped and held captive by Belle and Matteo, two vampires with a plan. Belle, a sociopath in life and death, is searching for an heir to her reign as the only vampire to hold the secret to surviving the sun. Matteo is a lost soul who would give anything to be loved and to see the light of day.

~As the four characters’ worlds collide, blood is spilled, lives are lost, and rules are broken. Disappointment in love and life bring out the worst in humans but with vampires, it leads to a chilling tale that will make you look under your bed before you close your eyes and then dream of falling in love with a medieval fiend.

Catherine's also been kind enough to share some of her experiences on getting published. Here's her guest post on what it means to her to be an indie author:

Stuck in the Middle with Me by Catherine Stovall

I am not one of those authors who have been writing novels for the past ten or twenty years. Stolen is the first novel I have ever written. One day, I decided to write a book and six months later Stolen was born. There I was with my completed manuscript staring back at me and a question in the space between me and it. Stolen was completed, proof read, and edited, now what?

The next logical step was to publish my brain child. This fragile and newborn thing must be sent out to the wolves on its own with just my hopes to carry it. Who would I choose to judge my heart and soul? There were only really three options. I could publish Stolen myself, I could send it off to the big print publishers and agents, or I could send it to the eBook Publishers.

I knew right away that the self-publishing industry just wasn’t for me. I admire those brave souls who put on their entrepreneur hats and storm into the world of publishing. These miraculous authors take on all the challenges and hard work of seeing their novels through the fog and into the eyes of the reader. I needed more guidance, more direction, and the help of someone who positively knew how to do what I didn’t.

Checking the submission guidelines for many of the well-known print publishers I learned quickly that this would be a daunting task. Most print publishers do not accept unsolicited manuscripts from writers, only those with agents. Agents do not generally accept authors who have not previously been professionally published. I found myself in a conundrum.

I began looking into ePublishing. Though someday I want to see Stolen in print, the more I learned about eBooks, I knew this was the path for me as a new author. ePublishers offered me everything I was looking for. Here were companies who welcomed unsolicited manuscripts without an agent, provided professional editing, and offered very competitive royalty rates. I loved the idea of being able to tell my future grandchildren that I was a part of the eBook revolution. When I learned that I could have a bigger say in the entire process with the ePublishers than with print publishers, I started cheerfully preparing the perfect query letter.

Sixteen letters went out. In a matter of weeks, I received several polite no thank you letters, one letter that not so politely told me not to give up my day job, and two letters saying yes. Now, from what I have heard, this is rare if not a miracle. I consider myself blessed to now be a part of the Untreed Reads team.

I have many of the same privileges, as a self-published author. In addition to these privileges, I have an extra helping hand from the publisher. Still,having Stolen published in eBook only by a small publisher is tough. Sometimes I feel I am stuck in the middle. Not being independent enough to be Indie and not big enough to be something else, I find myself in a hard place as an emerging author. It is a struggle to find outlets to promote and then I do most of than promotion myself. Yet, I am very happy where I am right now with my writing career.

As far the question of rather or not I am an Indie author goes, I really don’t know. It depends on the person’s point of view. To some, the term Indy means an author who has no affiliation with any company. To these people I am not an Indie writer. To others, Indy means an author who is Independent in their thinking. One who Never gives up. One who Drives forward and continues to learn as they grow as author and person. One who is Inventive in the way they promote their work and in their publishing endeavors. Most of all, an Indie author is a person who Experiences the process of writing, editing, and publishing with their heart, minds, and soul. I can only hope that these people define me as Indie, it would be my honor.

You can discover more about Catherine on her website and on Facebook. Don't forget to leave a comment below if you'd like to be in with a chance of winning a copy of Stolen.